The Influence of Scaffold Designs on Cell Seeding Efficiency in Establishing A Three-Dimensional Culture

Abstract

The concept of Bone Tissue Engineering (BTE) based on cell-seeded scaffold holds great promise for the treatment of bone defects. However, much optimization is required in establishing a three-dimensional (3D) culture before BTE can be successfully applied clinically. In this study, we have assessed the influence of scaffold designs on the initial cell seeding efficiency of anchorage cells. The rapid prototyping designed polylactic acid (PLA) scaffolds fabricated using fused deposition modelling (FDM) designated by 2C and 4C scaffolds were compared to the commercial hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffold. Prior to cell seeding, 2C and 4C scaffolds were deposited with silicon carbonated HA nanopowders / Hyaluronic acid / Collagen Type I by Polyelectrolyte Multilayers (PEMs) coating and sterilized under ultra-violet (UV) radiation. Human Bone Marrow derived-Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs) were then cultured on the scaffolds using different volume of cell suspension, seeding method (one-side and two-sides; coated and non-coated well plates) and culture condition (static and rotary bioreactor). Regardless of scaffold designs, cell-seeded scaffold with small volume of cell suspension and two-sides seeding using coated well plate resulted in better cell attachment and distribution across the surface of the scaffolds than one-sided seeding. In any case, commercial HA exhibited lower percentages of cell attachment. Culturing these scaffolds in different media but culturing these scaffolds in rotary bioreactor has pronounced impact on the cell survival as compared to static condition.